Cornflakes, Branflakes
26. Some cereals, e.g., cornflakes, branflakes, Rice Krispies, and the like, soften when milk or another liquid is added, but do not stick together like a dough or batter. The pieces remain as they were, just softer. This presents no potential concern of losh and may be done on Shabbos (מחזה אליהו ח''ג סי' מ אות ח, ארחות שבת פ''ו אות מה ).
Weetabix
27. How it is made. Weetabix is a breakfast cereal known to be healthy and tasty that is very popular in England and other countries. It is made from wheat cooked in a pressure cooker; dried; ground into long fibrous pieces of wheat; pressed into rectangular biscuits with rounded corners; and dried in an oven, finalizing the biscuit shape.
28. How it is eaten. To eat Weetabix, people put the biscuits into a bowl and add hot water, milk, or both. As soon as liquid is added, the wheat absorbs the liquid and becomes sticky. The shape of the biscuit remains, but it is like a thick wheat batter. After it sits this way for a long time, it loses its biscuit shape and turns into a batter of wheat mixed with the liquid.
29. Issur of losh. Accordingly, the poskim say Weetabix has the same status as flaxseed (above, 9). Just adding milk to the Weetabix is an issur d’oraisa of losh since just adding the liquid causes everything to clump together into a thick paste without any mixing action. The biscuit remains as is even if a lot of milk is added, and the pieces of wheat combine together to create a thick mixture within the biscuit. Because of this the step of adding the liquid is assur due to the melacha of losh. No shinui in the step of adding the liquid helps with an issur d’oraisa (above, 6). Although some forms of losh can be allowed in some cases for baby food (Issue 349, par. 34), that does not apply in this case, which is assur according to all opinions (מחזה אליהו ח''ג סי' מ', ארחות שבת פ''ו אות מ''ו, הגר''א וויזנפלד בשם הגר''ע אוירבך ).
Ways to Prepare Weetabix on Shabbos
30. Crumbling the Weetabix. However, there are some mutar ways to prepare Weetabix on Shabbos. One heter is to crumble the biscuit so that when it is combined using a lot of milk, it will be a thin mixture rather than a thick one. One can pour a lot of milk in a bowl and then crumble the Weetabix into the bowl of milk, constituting a shinui in the step of adding the liquid. Then, it can all be mixed together in a crisscross motion. Crumbling the Weetabix by hand is not a problem of tochein since the biscuit was artificially formed; one is now just unsticking the pieces. This is the same reason one may crumble a sugar cube (מ''ב סי' שכ''א סק''ל בשם הפמ''ג ).
31. Adding some milk before Shabbos. There is another way to make it if one specifically wants it thick [e.g., a baby will not eat it if it is thin or he suffers from reflux and needs to eat thick food]: he can add some milk to the Weetabix before Shabbos so that it is very thick and dry and then put it in the fridge. Then, on Shabbos, he may take it out and add milk until it is ready to be eaten and still thick. This way, the initial mixing was done before Shabbos, in a very thick mixture. Now, when one adds milk on Shabbos, he is diluting the thickness of the mixture, which is the opposite of the melacha of losh and may be done on Shabbos (see Issue 349, par. 29). Then, he should mix it in a crisscross motion to avoid issues of fixing a dough (מחזה אליהו שם אות י' והלאה ).
32. First mixing it with applesauce. Another way that is mentioned is by pouring thick applesauce onto the Weetabix on Shabbos and then mixing it well with a shinui, e.g., a crisscross motion. This way there is no issur of losh in the step of adding the liquid according to most poskim, and then the mixing can be done with a shinui. A small amount of milk can also be added while still keeping the mixture thick (מחזה אליהו שם ).
Quick Oats
33. One must also be careful about the issur of losh when preparing quick oats with milk. Just adding the milk causes clumping, like with flaxseed (above, 9), which violates the melacha of losh in a thick mixture, and a shinui in the step of adding the liquid does not help. Thus, one should pour in a lot of milk right away so that from the beginning it is only classified as a thin mixture, and a shinui should be made in the order of what is added first (מחזה אליהו שם ).
